45 pages • 1 hour read
Mark TwainThe Innocents Abroad
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1869A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 8-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary
The next stop is Tangier in Morocco, the second-oldest city in the world and a mélange of cultural influences, including Arab-Muslim, which is especially evident in the picturesque marketplace with its tiny stalls selling many kinds of goods. Twain visits the Cave of Hercules and explains that Hercules may have been a real historical person. He reflects on the “soulless” despotism of the Emperor of Morocco, whose practices include levying heavy fines on the rich to pay for his expenses.
Chapter 9 Summary
Twain continues his account of Tangier, describing how Islam strongly shaped its social and religious character. The confluence of three “sabbaths” a week—of the Muslims, Jews, and Christians—strikes him, as well as the practice of polygamy both among the Muslims and the Jews. The harsh bigotry of the Muslims toward Christians is emphasized. Overall, Twain is astonished at the boredom, sameness, and changelessness of life in this country. At the end of the visit, he is well ready to bid goodbye to Tangier.
Chapter 10 Summary
The company celebrates the Fourth of July on board the Quaker City with dinner, champagne, and dancing. The Oracle, a pretentious passenger, exasperates Twain and the others, as the Oracle constantly bores them with his pseudo-learned discourses about the places they are visiting. The ship lands at Marseilles, and Twain and his friends struggle comically to make themselves understood in French. That evening, they go to a casino where they enjoy dinner, champagne, and entertainment.
Chapter 11 Summary
Twain and his companions are increasingly adjusting to foreign ways, including dining habits and the frequent lack of soap. They visit a shaded avenue called the Prado, a miniature cemetery, and a zoological garden. Then they travel by sailboat to a remote castle, Château d’If, the site of a mournful and depressing prison for political prisoners, including the legendary “Iron Mask.”
Chapter 12 Summary
The company travels by rail through the heart of France. Twain finds the country, with its neatly tended gardens, arbors, and quaint landscape, “bewitching.” Although he finds sleep uncomfortable on the train due to the lack of a sleeping car, the fine meals and the efficiency and orderliness with which the French railroad system is run impresses him. After passing by Lyons and other cities, the company reaches Paris. The charm and life of the city immediately overtake Twain. He has a comically frightening experience getting a shave in a barbershop, then plays billiards before dining at a café and retiring to his hotel for the night.
Chapter 13 Summary
The companions select a guide to show them around Paris. The guide, whom they call “Ferguson,” proves to be something of a knave, cheating them of the chance to see the Louvre by constantly stopping at silk stores.
The guests visit the Paris International Exposition, where Twain is just as fascinated by the costumes and manners of the various national visitors as by the displays of tapestries and artificial animals. Going outside into the streets, Twain catches a parade, at which are present Emperor Louis Napoleon III of France and Sultan Abdul-Aziz of Turkey. Twain views the emperor as emblematic of enlightened progress, and the sultan of backward indolence.
Chapter 14 Summary
The next stop on the trip is the Cathedral of Notre Dame; Twain is impressed by the artwork but skeptical as ever of the relics. Twain visits the Morgue, an unsurprisingly grisly display. On another night, Twain and his friends go to the Jardin Mabille to see acrobatics and other entertainment, including the “scandalous” cancan. Then it is off to the Louvre museum, where the worshipful deference shown by the artists to the princely patrons they painted puts off Twain. Finally, Twain goes to the “enchanting” Bois de Boulogne where he again catches a glimpse of the emperor and sultan.
Chapter 15 Summary
The travelers visit Père la Chaise, the French national cemetery. This impresses Twain because it is the resting place of ordinary citizens who distinguished themselves “by their own energy and their own genius” (98). Twain visits the grave of Abelard and Heloise and retells their famous love story, finding in it more cause for disgust than admiration. The company leaves Paris for Versailles.
Chapter 16 Summary
Twain finds Versailles “wonderfully beautiful,” a paradise on earth with its sparkling fountains, statues, avenues, and carefully tended trees and gardens, all on a “gigantic scale.” The company returns to Paris and the poor neighborhood of St. Antoine, which Twain regards as the antithesis of Versailles. Poverty and crime are rampant, although Twain takes comfort in the fact that Emperor Louis Napoleon is building up and modernizing the city, thus reducing conditions that breed violent revolution.
Chapters 8-16 Analysis
These chapters take us through North Africa and into France. In Morocco, Twain encounters the Muslim (“Moorish”) world in full force. He is impressed by the extravagance of dress but looks unfavorably on the despotism of the emperor and the intolerance shown by Muslims toward Christians, even extending to an abhorrence of physical contact. Twain also discusses such practices as arranged marriages, polygamy, barbaric punishments for crimes, concubinage, and black slavery. The unprogressive and intolerant nature of the Islamic world will be a key theme from here on.
By contrast, Twain’s impression of France is positive and enthusiastic. He appreciates French order and efficiency (as shown in the rail system, for instance) and enjoys the food, wine, and scenery. Yet it is also in France that Twain notices a major cultural difference, the absence of soap, which will become a running joke throughout the book.
Indeed, the theme of cultural misunderstanding comes comically into play in this section. While seeking to cross onto the pier, Twain tries to speak French to a boatman but cannot make himself understood. He remarks ironically, “He appeared to be very ignorant of French” (64). Later, entering a café, the passengers speak imperfect French to the proprietress, and she answers in perfect English, “Bless you, why didn’t you speak English before? I don’t know anything about your plagued French!” (65). Later, Twain’s companions re-name their tour guide “Ferguson” because they can’t abide his unromantic surname of “Billfinger.” Throughout, Twain satirizes American cultural chauvinism and the ease with which his countrymen make fools of themselves abroad.
At the same time, Twain shows a growing understanding and appreciation of foreign ways. A good example is the episode in Chapter 15 about an American who accidentally intruded upon the French emperor’s space in a military review and was politely escorted away by the imperial guard. Twain finds the French officials’ diplomatic handling of this situation superior to how American police would react in a similar circumstance. He concludes that “[w]e are measurably superior to the French in some things, but they are immeasurably our better in others” (107).
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